Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Getting Buy-In on Decisions

[OCC611ng (normangauss]

Sharon:

    I think the frequency of membership meetings is one of the main reasons
why attendance is so low.  Our community would rather bring an issue to be
decided to a membership meeting rather than have a subset of the membership
make the decision, including the Board.

    In California's condominium law package only two types of membership
meetings are described, Annual and Special.  Each type requires
pre-announcement weeks ahead of time with pre-announced agendas.  Each type
also allows members to submit proxies on the issues.
It is obvious that, because this pre-planning is cumbersome, both types of
membership meeting are intended to be only occasional.  Our membership
meetings are almost weekly.  I think many of us are burned out by all the
meetings.

Norm Gauss
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
To: "Cohousing-L" <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 10, 2005 7:57 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Getting Buy-In on Decisions


>
> On Sep 10, 2005, at 8:01 AM, OCC611ng wrote:
>
> > Sharon:
> >>
> >> Having the board ratify that the meeting was properly called and
> >> announced is standard practice, I think. The Board is responsible for
> >> ensuring the proper functioning of the corporation.
> >>
> >
> > Are you saying that the Board has the responsibility to ensure that
> > membership meetings are properly called and announced?  If the Board is
> > responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of the corporation, and
> > insufficient participation in decision making is being tolerated, the
> > Board
> > can be sued because of dereliction of duty.
>
> It depends on your state law. In DC, the condo law actually gives ALL
> responsibility to the board. If the board says so, it is true. The
> courts would probably find the expectation for all owners of attending
> a meeting twice a month or even once a month unreasonable in a
> condominium. And if a decision needs to be made and the membership
> doesn't show up to make it, someone does have to act. Otherwise the
> corporation is put in jeopardy.
>
> But these are legal decisions, not community ones. What is in the best
> interests of your community? More discussion and less decision-making
> might be better for the community as a whole.
>
> Sharon
> -----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
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